Volunteer of the Month
Archives

November 2019
Linda Sowell

Photo of Linda Sowell

This month we’d like to shine the light on a new, yet not new volunteer. If you read last month’s newsletter, specifically the Activity Spotlite, you would have read a bit about Linda Sowell. Well this month we’d like to shine an even larger spotlight on her as our Volunteer of the Month. Linda is the new Gadabouts Trip Coordinator. She had been working in the Thrift Store and was asked to be a relief in the Trip office. When a vacancy occurred she was asked to take over, which she was more than happy to do. Since then she has been busy scheduling new trips, chaperoning trips on occasion, and generally managing our hustling and bustling trip office. Linda also serves on our Board of Directors. If needed she also helps out at our special events. Originally from Chicago, IL, she moved out to California with her husband who was in the Navy. Once out here she was not content to stay at home raising her two kids (who themselves provided her with five grandkids), but worked in numerous types of jobs. Her main career was in Food Service. She started out at McDonalds as a cashier, and worked her way up to manager. Then she transferred to the school system where she became the Director of Children’s Nutrition for the Bear Valley School District before retiring. Thanks Linda for helping to take our members on trips of a lifetime.

Featured Class

Photography and Digital Imaging
Date: October 31, 2019
Time: TBD
Length:
Cost: members
       non-members
Instructor: Ricardo Tomboc
Location:
Description: The class is taught by Ricardo Tomboc, a San Bernardino Police Department Forensics Specialist, who apart from taking pictures for a living, takes them for fun. The classes are generally 1.5 hours long for six Wednesdays. The class fee is $25 for seniors and non-seniors. The class is more for beginners as well as those who wish to hone their photography skills. Depending on the skills of the class, he will cover basic photographic principles and digital operations. If you don’t have a camera or are unsure which to buy, there will be some film SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras available as loaners, until you know what you are looking for. You will also learn the in’s and out’s of digital photography, but he can still do film photography as well. If you go old school, you will be responsible for the purchasing and developing of the film. Whatever camera you do decide to bring, make sure it has manual adjustments or is a SLR. So if you’d like to learn how to capture a moment in time forever, come by and register or call us at (909)862-8104 for more information. The class is not yet scheduled as the instructors needs 10 students to proceed. So if you would like to take the class please call us so we can let the instructor know.

Featured Activity

Nutrition Program
Time: Dailys 12:00 pm
Cost: $1.75 members
      $3.75 Non-seniors non-members
Location: Dining Room
Description: This week, the Highland Senior Center would like to give you a little background on a program that many people take advantage of but probably know little about: their Nutrition Program. It has been going on here at the center for nearly 40 years. When it first began, it was run by San Bernardino County. There was even a cook who prepared the meals at the center. The following year it was taken over by the City of San Bernardino through the Parks and Recreation program, which has been running it ever since. The meals are cooked downtown and delivered to the center Monday through Friday. From there, the centers' Nutrition team of volunteers take over feeding approximately 225 diners every week. Starting at 8:00 am, the group comes in and begins cleaning the kitchen and getting everything ready for the food. When it arrives around 11:00 am they prepare the trays and service begins at 12:00 pm. Once everyone is done, its time to clean the kitchen and dinning area in preparation for the next day. This needs to be done because they are inspected regularly by three different agencies. The County of San Bernardino, the City of San Bernardino, and the Department of Aging and Adult Service. However, its not all about the food. Many people come also come for the social interaction; coming hours early to chat and visit with friends, staying afterwards to participate in activities. As they say, man cannot live by food alone, and the crowd shows that they are hungry for more. The cost is only $1.75 for those ages 60 and older, and $3.75 for non-seniors.
Operation Senior Claus 2011
By: Mike Sylva
(Christmas) is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book



For those who have read Washington Irving’s ‘Old Christmas,’ you can appreciate the impact he had on bringing the idyllic English Christmas stateside. He is also credited by Charles Dickens as an influence on his own Christmas writings, including the classic A Christmas Carol. Both works seek to bring back the idea of hospitality. Something we could use in this commercialized Christmas era.

One way you can help with this is to remember that in this “season of giving”, it’s not always the amount of presents, or giving for giving’s sake. It’s giving to make a difference to someone. Presents don’t have to be big or expensive. Sometimes the smallest thing can make the biggest difference in someone’s life. For some seniors it only takes 1 can of food, or $10 gift card to brighten the holidays of a senior this Christmas.

Operation Senior Claus is now coming to the home stretch and we need you to make it a success for us, but also a Merry Christmas for our seniors. We are hoping to help out over 100 seniors this years, but we need your help. We will be preparing Christmas dinners (turkey and all the trimmings), and little gift baskets for some worthy seniors. To do this we are still in need of money donations, gift cards to food markets, as well as hygiene products (i.e. toothbrushes, shampoo).

So please think about helping out those less fortunate and take the words of Ruth Cater Stapleton to heart. “Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”